On the Run
by wordybee
Summary: A Jeff/Annie story written after "Pascal's Triangle Revisited."


**A/N:** _I wrote this for Livejournal a while back and decided to add it to FF along with some other fics._

_

* * *

_

After a passing student whistled at them and Jeff and Annie both realized they were _full-on making out in the middle of the campus,_ they broke apart. They stood awkwardly, Annie coughing quietly and trying in vain to smooth down her thoroughly messed up hair and Jeff trying to look anywhere but at a gorgeous Annie-With-Messed-Up-Hair so he wasn't tempted to make another lunge at her.

It felt like an eternity passed before they made eye contact again, and their eyes told a story of a thousand panics:

_Oh shit, what about Britta and Slater?_

_ Oh my gosh, Britta is my _friend_ and I just made out with the _guy she loves_._

_ Shit, shit, shit, I do _not_ need to be making out with Annie. Annie, just-out-of-highschool-Annie._

_ Was this just because of what happened at the dance? Did he mean to do this?_

_ What's going to happen now?_

_ What's going to happen now?_

_ She looks really, really nice right –_

_ He looks so -_

Both stopped themselves about halfway before another make-out session, each one jumping twice as far apart as they'd been before.

"I better go –"

"My parents don't even –"

"—somewhere other than –"

"—know I'm still –"

"Here," they finished in unison.

Annie's eyes were wide and she looked a bit insane. Jeff cleared his throat and the two gazed at each other for a few more seconds before the scrambling in opposite directions.

As Jeff sat in his busted, windshield-less Lexus, he thought about some things. He wasn't really one for seeking advice, but during his time in the study group he'd learned that it was sometimes a better idea to admit he needed help than to try and avoid his problems. He took out his phone and dialed Abed's number. It went to voicemail:

_"You've reached Abed Nadir. I'm currently on Summer Hiatus, please call back in the fall."_

Jeff knew it was a joke and he could've asked Abed for advice anyways, but he snapped his phone off and started up his car.

_Avoiding things sometimes works out for the best_, he thought. _I mean, I avoid lots of things that I'm better for avoiding. Poison. Obstacles while driving. TV shows about singing high school students…_

Yes, this will be fine.

* * *

Summer was over. Jeff arrived on campus three hours early for his class at noon. Remarkably, his parking spot was still saved for him when he got there, and as he watched the cone being removed in order to allow his newly-restored Lexus into the space, it was almost as if he never left.

Greendale Community College was the same as it ever was, right down to the painfully quirky students and faculty that Jeff had grown accustomed to. He would never admit to _liking_ these people, but they had a charm to them that was quintessential GCC. Same as ever.

Except, Jeff was there three hours early, which wasn't normal but he was so stressed out he'd needed to get out of his apartment before the pacing caused a trench in his floor and doomed his cleaning deposit. He sat in his car, in the parking lot, for three hours, just watching and waiting like a man on death row. He'd avoided the inevitable for months, and now he had no choice but to face it.

Britta had been the easiest to avoid. She was like Jeff in many ways, one of which was an inability to confront problems in a healthy and intelligent fashion. Abed had been the middleman between the two of them, passing the occasional message like, "Britta says 'hi'. She's working part-time at the bagel shop near campus now. She has a new cat; I think it's missing an ear, but it never comes out from behind the sofa so I can't be sure," to Jeff. He probably gave similar small-talk updates to Britta, as they apparently spent quite a bit of time together, but Jeff never really asked for details and Britta never asked to speak to him herself.

For the first couple of weeks after the Tranny Dance, Slater called Jeff every night and invited herself over to his apartment for lunch twice. It was only until Jeff told her that just because he and Britta weren't dating, it didn't mean that Slater had won, that she stopped assaulting him every moment of the day and held back. She didn't give up completely, though: she continued to call him and slip cutting barbs at Britta or _"I'm still available"_ hints into the conversations until Jeff's lack of response caused the calls to taper off and, as the summer progressed, eventually stop completely.

And it would've been a perfect score for the Jeff Winger "Avoidance" Method of Dealing With Problems if not for Annie.

Evidently Annie had taken an advanced course in the Jeff Winger "Avoidance" Method of Dealing With Problems, because it seemed that as far as she was concerned, nothing had happened at all. Annie constantly called Jeff, texted him, sent him email updates on the "fun summer elective classes" ("I don't care if it's Theme Parks and Rollercoasters 101, a class during the summer isn't _fun_, Annie," he'd said) she'd decided to take in order to fill in the free time she'd set aside for her trip with Vaughn, and invited him out to lunch or coffee. All without mentioning, acknowledging, or even awkwardly and obviously avoiding the elephant in the room that was the two of them making out in public outside the dance. She had been completely happy, friendly, regular ol' Annie the _entire time_ and it had driven Jeff absolutely insane when it really shouldn't have. She'd given him a free pass, after all – no discussion about The Incident, no discussion about "Where we are in our relationship", no discussion about "What does it mean?", just a fresh start with a comfortable, perfectly innocent friendship.

But it _did_ drive Jeff insane, and he couldn't figure out why. Every second with Annie not mentioning the kiss made Jeff's skin itch and his leg do a restless hop that was really unbecoming of his generally cool and laid-back persona, and she didn't even have the courtesy to mention _that_. Two-thirds through the summer and he couldn't take it anymore, he just stopped. He started avoiding contact with Annie as well, and Jeff felt awful about it because she was the one person mixed up in the whole mess that he _didn't_ need to avoid because she was taking it all so well. Every time he'd clicked "delete" on one of her text messages, his stomach turned.

But on campus, at Greendale, Jeff was three hours early for class and he couldn't sit in his car forever. He got out, locked it, and made sure he looked as calm and collected as he could. He nodded a greeting at some students who waved to him, his eyes shielded by a pair of ridiculously expensive sunglasses, and he knew that no one could see the turmoil that wrought beneath the surface.

His cell phone jangled and buzzed simultaneously and Jeff's empty binder flew about five feet into the air when he jumped. He also might have made a sound not unlike a yelp.

Heart pounding, Jeff sighed and answered his phone.

"Hi," was all that the soft, girly voice on the other end said.

Jeff's stomach did a little flip-turn and he gulped. He looked at the screen of the phone and read "ANNIE" there, clear as day. He'd been so surprised by his phone that he'd forgot to check the caller ID, and now he was speaking to Annie three hours sooner than he should've been. He was not prepared for this development. He'd been relying on that extra three hours to clear his system of any remnants of tension, or guilt, or maybe if he was lucky he was really hoping he'd be involved in some sort of accident that would give him selective amnesia and he'd have the greatest excuse in the world and oh, Annie was talking again:

"Did you get here early for the book sale, too?" she was saying, in that calm, _'We totally did not make out and like it' _voice again. Jeff's skin was getting itchy.

"No, I… I mean," Jeff pinched the bridge of his nose and picked up his fallen notebook. "Yeah, sure, Annie. I got here early for the book sale."

"Oh! Well, I'm in the library right now. We can have coffee! I have a class in half an hour, but it'd be good to see you before we go to Anthropology."

Jeff sighed. He wanted so, so desperately to tell Annie that he was going home now, or to lunch, or to the moon, but he kept remembering that no matter what he did _now, _he still had class with her at noon. So he agreed, and made his way to the library.

When he arrived, Annie was sitting at a table off to the side. She had two cups of coffee in her hands, and a stack of five textbooks and a large, zippered binder next to her. She was looking through a date book when he walked up, and when she looked at him she beamed with a smile that made Jeff want to crawl into a hole and die. Was she seriously being _this nice_ to him after he started ignoring her for almost a month? Jeff's skin felt like it was on fire, and when he sat down his leg started doing the restless bouncing thing again. He took the coffee Annie was offering him and sipped it. Maybe caffeine would stop the twitching.

"You don't have your book?" she asked, looking at Jeff's solitary empty binder.

Jeff shrugged, mouth full of just-above-lukewarm coffee.

Annie smiled knowingly, shifting her pile of books and handing one of the texts over to Jeff.

"There were only a few left. I know the others got them already – they went out for breakfast together before class – but I thought you'd be late, so I bought you one too."

Jeff Held the textbook in his hand, staring at it intently. Annie continued to smile, and Jeff's skin continued to boil. He set his coffee down on the table so fast that some of it sloshed over and Annie gasped, ready to run for paper towels. Jeff dropped the textbook with a loud thud that reverberated through the mostly-empty library and stood up while Annie looked at him in shock.

"Annie, what are you _doing?_" Jeff asked. His voice was a bit high, and Annie stared at him with her doe-eyes and Jeff wanted to run away but he didn't.

"I've been a total ass to you for the last month and you're bringing me _coffee_ and buying my textbooks for me, when you should be splashing that coffee in my face and dropping the textbook onto my feet. Why are you _doing this to me_?"

"I…" Annie chewed on her bottom lip. "I thought, I mean I figured you'd just been busy or something."

"I wasn't busy! I was avoiding you! You want to know why I was avoiding you? Because you're driving me _completely insane_. Every time I'm around you, I think I've broken out into some terrible rash or my skin is melting off or something, and I start twitching like I'm tweaked out some of the _really bad_ stuff. And you want to know why _that _is? Because _we kissed_, Annie. We kissed, and it wasn't for a debate, and it wasn't strategic or for the team, and we didn't win anything but it was fantastic, and _you aren't mentioning it_! Why aren't you ever mentioning it? This isn't how things go. You're supposed to freak out about it, and I'm supposed to avoid the subject in a really obvious way, and then we're supposed to move on in one way or another but I _can't _ because you refuse to acknowledge it even happened! Why, why, why, _why_ _are you doing this to me?_"

Annie gaped at Jeff, as did the three other people who occupied the library until Jeff turned his pent-up frustration on them with a sharp glare (and perhaps a growl) that caused them to shuffle out awkwardly. Annie's mouth kept moving up and down, like she was trying to say something but couldn't get the words past her throat. Jeff waited, breathing heavily from his longwinded rant.

Finally, she did:

"I thought I was doing you a favor, not talking about it," she said, voice quiet. "I figured if I didn't make a big deal about it, you could… move on from it, and get with Britta, or Slater, and I didn't have to be a loose end for you to tie up."

Jeff sighed, sliding back into the chair next to Annie.

"You're never a loose end," he said.

Annie continued to look awkward, and Jeff internally kicked himself for embarrassing her. He was moments from apologizing when she blurted,

"So who _did _you choose, anyways? I mean, I didn't really talk to Britta about it when I saw her this morning but –"

"I didn't choose," Jeff cut in.

"Oh." Annie fidgeted with the pages of her datebook. "Why not?"

Jeff looked at Annie, who looked back at him with sincere interest. He was shocked to find that, while the uncomfortable skin-melting itchiness was gone, there was still a slight buzzing sensation, and that was much more pleasant. And instead of a case of nerves-induced Restless Leg Syndrome or guilt-induced nausea, Jeff felt a light flutter in his chest. It was the flutter that tipped him off – the buzzing could've just been the coffee, but the flutter. That was something specific, something that he hadn't really felt before but knew instantly in spite of it. Jeff looked at Annie pointedly and his head dipped forward to place a light kiss on her lips. She continued to stare at him for a few moments before her eyes widened with understanding.

"Oh," she repeated, softer this time. Jeff leaned in for another kiss, this one deeper, and the flutter in his chest increased tenfold.

When they broke apart, Annie's fingers were entangled in Jeff's hair and his hands were wrapped around her waist. Annie smiled.

Jeff smiled back, but asked, "What?"

"This is the last time I use the Winger method of avoiding things in order to deal with a problem," she explained. "We could've been doing this three months ago."

Jeff shrugged by way of apology, and then proceeded to make up for lost time.

* * *

Britta glared at the scene of Jeff and Annie through the library window, a coffee in one hand and a bag of pastries in the other. She didn't hear Abed come up, but she didn't jump when she suddenly heard his voice. She was used to that sort of thing by now.

"Is this bad?" he asked, simply enough. Britta made a face.

"Bad for Jeff," she said. "The little weasel didn't tell me he liked Annie."

"To be fair, he didn't tell you anything all summer. And you didn't tell him anything. You were both avoiding each other due to a lack of suitable romantic interest as well as overall embarrassment. And, judging by the events we've just witnessed through this window, it's safe to say that Jeff didn't fully realize his feelings for Annie until this very moment, so he can't be held responsible for not telling anyone."

Britta turned her scornful look on Abed, who looked back at her, as unfazed as ever. "You can be a real buzzkill sometimes, Abed."

Abed shrugged, "It comes with the territory." He took the bag of pastries from Britta's hand as she sipped her coffee, her scorn completely evaporated. "Hm. Jelly-filled," he said, and picked a donut from the bag.

As he ate, Troy stepped up next to him. "Hey, what are we looking at through the window?"

"Jeff and Annie are romantically entangled now," replied Abed.

"Oh, that's new." Troy peaked into the pastry bag and pulled out a bear-claw.

Shirley arrived on the opposite side of Britta, squinting at the library. "Is that…"

"Yes," three voices answered.

"Oh… That's…"

"Just say 'interesting', Shirley, we know you don't think it's 'nice'," Britta sighed.

"What's not nice?" Pierce asked, walking up behind Shirley and Britta. He also squinted at Jeff and Annie through the window. Shirley idly took the bag of pastries as it was passed down the line, and started nibbling on a raspberry Danish.

"Woah! Is Jeff getting it on with Big Boobs?"

Shirley gasped, "No! They're just kissing!"

Britta turned sharply to Pierce, "I thought I was Big Boobs!"

Pierce chuckled condescendingly, patted Britta on the shoulder, and took a chocolate-glazed twist out of the pastry bag.

Britta snatched the bag away from Pierce, realizing that it was now empty. She rolled her eyes. "Guys, these were for Annie and Jeff. We _already ate_."

Pierce started to chuckle again, no doubt a rude joke of some kind on its way, but his mouth was full so Britta took her opportunity and elbowed him in the gut.

Troy brushed glaze off his hands and, without looking at the group, asked, "So, are we gonna find a way to make them as uncomfortable as possible when we get to class?"

Britta smirked, "Definitely."

"I'm in."

"They should be uncomfortable!"

"This will be an interesting development."

Troy nodded, "Cool."


End file.
